@MELINDA SUE GORDON/NETFLIX
Eddie Murphy is back as Axel Foley. It’s been almost 30 years since we last saw the fast-talking Detroit cop, but he’s finally heading out on a new case. “Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F“ sees Axel on patrol back in Beverly Hills, with friends both old and new — and maybe even a family member.
As producer Jerry Bruckheimer (“Top Gun: Maverick,” “The Rock“) tells Tudum, “Eddie’s such an incredible artist. He can do drama, he can do comedy – he can do anything. And he’s the same Axel Foley. He’s still on the streets. He’s still doing what he does. Obviously with age you get wiser. But he still has the twinkle in his eye.”
In other words: Axel’s only grown more potent in the last few decades. And so has Murphy. Director Mark Molloy tells Tudum: “Some of the funniest moments in Axel F are when Eddie’s improvising. For me, a big part of my job was to create the right environment, cast the right people around Eddie to allow him to do what he does best.”
Detective Axel Foley (Murphy) is back on the beat in Beverly Hills. After his daughter Jane’s (Taylour Paige) life is threatened, she and Foley team up with a new partner (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) and old pals Billy Rosewood (Judge Reinhold) and Taggart (John Ashton) to turn up the heat and uncover a conspiracy.
Axel’s been back to Beverly Hills a few times since his first jaunt in 1984, but it’s changed just as much as he has. “Detroit is a much different city than Los Angeles and especially Beverly Hills,” Bruckheimer says. “He still has the same kind of wonderment at the things you see walking down Rodeo Drive.”
As Molloy tells is: “As we were scouting going from Detroit to Beverly Hills, the cultural contrast that made Axel a fish out of water in the eighties still is so vivid. They might just be the two most opposite places in America.”
The new film has its share of fresh and reterning cast members. Returning from the original films are Murphy (“Coming to America,” “Dolemite is My Name,” “You People“), Judge Reinhold (“Fast Times at Ridgemont High,” “Gremlins“) as Billy Rosewood, and John Ashton (“Some Kind of Wonderful,” “Midnight Run“), plus Paul Reiser (“Aliens,” “Stranger Things“) as Jeffrey Friedman and Bronson Pinchot (“Perfect Strangers,” “Risky Business“) as Serge.
As for new partners, Taylour Paige (“Zola,” “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom“) plays Axel’s daughter Jane. “You’re trying to cast Axel Foley’s daughter. That’s a real challenge,” Molloy says. “I saw that same glint in Taylour’s eye, that infectious spark and energy that Axel has, but also someone who could go toe to toe with Axel, which is a hard thing.”
Alongside Joseph Gordon-Levitt (“Project Power“) as Detective Abbott, Kevin Bacon (“Leave the World Behind,” “Footloose“ plays Captain Cade Grant. We’re sure Axel won’t rub any of them the wrong way.
The new “Beverly Hills Cop“ hits Netflix in the summer of 2024, almost a full 40 years after the original hit theaters. “I remember as a kid in Australia, watching it for the first time,” Molloy says. “I had an Axel Foley poster up on my bedroom wall just like everyone else, even in Australia.”